Decay
by ChibiChibi-Chan
Summary: Zuko finds he's once again on the run and left with no where to turn. As great as his luck is he runs into someone he'd rather not face at the moment.


**Decay**

Blah blah blah, first Avatar/Zutara fic.. DD; I'll try my best to keep everything in character... / Eh... basically set after the end of book 2. lols... who doesn't do that? Anyway... fun times ahead...

Title comes from a song by Rie Fu which really reminded me of Zuko and Katara at the end of the season 2 finale. Its a nice song in both english/eng-japanese.

Don't own Avatar... but I can dream... THROUGH THE POWER OF FANFICTION... and Fanart... and other fan mediums.

**---------------------------------------------------**

There he was on the run again. Hiding in alleys and trying to survive completely on his own this time. At the same time he had to make sure his crazy sister and her friends didn't find him while he went to look for the only other person that did care for him. As he ventured into the woods outside of a small Earth Kingdom village he could hardly believe it all had happened in such a short time and even more how much of an idiot he was.

Initially the plan was to get on his sister's side and get his honor back. She had practically told him it was waiting for him on a silver plater back home. Thankfully somewhere along the line he figured it out, at the same time he felt his realization was a bit late. His uncle was sent ahead of him to the Fire Nation while Azula kept him under her control. A two weeks after Ba Sing Se was conquered a messenger from the Fire Nation appeared at the palace. His sister had informed him the 'good news' that he had his honor back and wanted to speak to him in private about what father had said. She had lead him on to believe that father wanted to see him as they went to seek a private spot. The moment his back was turned she attacked him and told him the truth. His father didn't want him back period and would prefer if Zuko was put out of his misery once and for all. A realization about all of it hit him quickly. He had made a mistake in believing it would be that easy to get his honor back and an even bigger one for even bothering to trust his sister in the first place. He wasn't sure how but he managed to avoid her attacks until she hit him with lightning. At that moment and the one after it he thanked his uncle for showing him how to redirect such an attack and was amazed it even worked instead of backfiring on him.

While Azula was shocked at the redirection of her attack he quickly blasted the window open, jumped down and took off running, all while hoping he wouldn't run into any Dai Li on the way out. His sister had continued to chase him and shooting attacks at him every chance she got. He managed to lose her in the crowded streets of one of the lower rings, hiding out behind a cart full of cabbages. He disliked having to run and was sure he would hate the smell or mention of cabbages after that day. It was difficult but he had managed to take out a few Dai Li that were posted around the exit of the capital on his way out and get on a train followed by stowing away on a ferry, practically going backwards.

The entire Ba Sing Se thing was a nightmare from the start. He recalled while going backwards in his trip to escape the clutches of his sister seeing so many people still happily going to Ba Sing Se to run from the Fire Nation. His sister didn't want to alert anyone of the fate of the strong hold until the Fire Nation troops that she had sent for came in. Her thought on the matter, when he was present, was that this way they would have more of the Earth Kingdom people under Fire Nation control easily and if any decided to fight the Dai Li could take care of them without any problems. At that moment he felt bad for the people trying to run from fate not knowing it had already caught up with them.

At first, he wanted to go back and take on Azula on his own. The thought was diminished the moment he realized she would come after him soon enough or, as he noticed on a new wanted poster for himself, someone would come for him and do that for her. His first thought went on the bounty hunter he had met months back with his Uncle, Jun. That was the last thing he needed and that the present time what he really needed was something to eat.

He had wondered from village to village as he had before with his uncle, making sure to avoid any he had visited previously. Each day was more exhausting than the last and his stomach screamed at him to find something to satisfy it immediately. He had been lucky one day and found a platypus bear egg, then cursed himself later for feeling hunger pains hours later. On this day the banished and mostly kill on sight prince had found himself wondering deeper into the forest than he normally did and had caught the sound of running water. His hopes quickly perked up. If he had any luck, along with some water he could get something to eat out of the river even if it wasn't all that good at fishing to begin with. Without realizing it his pace toward the water increased tremendously and the view of the river was seen in a few minutes time along with another view of a female water bender. He was in her full view the moment she turned around moving the water around her. Their eye's caught one another.

He had no idea that he'd run into her so soon after what had happened in the cave nearly two months ago. Then again looking back on his _fantastic_ luck he should have known better than to expect it not to happen sooner. She was looking up at him with a mix of emotions, mostly anger. Why shouldn't she be angry with him? He did after all help his sister against her and the Avatar, to expect anything less would be foolish of him. She started to take a fighting stance near the river. This was not going to be easy to get out of.

"You liar," she finally said as she moved her arms around forcing water to rise out of the river and directly at him. He quickly jumped out of the way and prepared himself for another attack, the last thing he wanted was to fight her right now.

"I don't want to fight," he told her honestly and backed off a bit before another wave hit him, knocking him into a near by tree. Before he could get up the girl had dashed over to him and with a few movements froze the water that was soaking him.

"What are you doing here," Katara demanded an answer from the frozen prince and quickly scoffed, "Why am I asking you that?! I know why you're here."

Zuko watched the water bender pace back and forth as she thought of what to do with the captive prince. Captive. The thought made him want to laugh. If anything he could easily melt the ice as he had done before in the north pole and escape, so why didn't he? True enough he could just free himself and run off before she could do anything but for some reason he wanted to prove to her that he wasn't a threat. Would she even buy that to begin with? Doubt started to come over him. His train of thought stopped suddenly as a pair of blue eyes were a few inches away from his face. He had to give it to her, she wasn't afraid of him in the least.

"What happened to your sister and the other two that are with her," she asked as she stared into his gold colored eyes expecting them to indicate a lie instantly. She watched him close his eyes and sneer at her.

"They aren't with me, obviously," he gave her an equal glare. She quickly frowned and went back to pacing as he continued on, "Besides, if they were you would be dead already or possibly on the other end of this interrogation."

Katara stopped moving and had her back to him, a silly decision for her to make in his mind. He couldn't see her face, but he was sure thoughts were running in and out of her mind a mile a minute. The advantage to this was that it left him to consider his options as well as keep an eye on her if she started to throw more questions at him again. From their last encounter in the cave he knew well that she was an aggressive type person but once she cooled down a bit she was reasonable.

"So then," she finally spoke, still not facing him, "What are you doing out here?"

Hearing her voice in a soft tone was a rare thing, he'd only heard it at least once in such a manner and thanked the spirits that she didn't decide to act any more rash with him. Of course this only lead to deciding what he should say to the girl in front of him, still not looking at him.

"It's complicated," he said and watched her turn around and look at him. She was no longer looking at him full of hate and outrage but concern and a bit of caution, he knew he deserved that much from her.

She moved her hands around though the air as he felt the ice holding him in place dissipate off of his body allowing him to stand up. Her eyes were looking away from him causing him to wonder about her thoughts until she turned back around and looked at the moonlit river. For some reason he found himself holding back from calling her a moron for turning her back on a potential enemy not once but twice now. Of course, he didn't and stayed where she left him.

"Why did you let me go," Zuko couldn't believe he asked such a thing until it was out of his mouth.

"Why didn't you get out yourself," she retorted. Once again he found himself wanting to scream at her and holding back.

"I told you already that I don't want to fight," he tried to sound less hostile than he was about the question she asked.

"Because its a full moon out and you knew you'd lose," she asked. The question sounded like she was pointing out his stupidity for appearing in front of her at such a time. Zuko growled knowing fully well that he hadn't expected her in the first place and a part of him wanted to prove that he'd win in a fight against her anyway.

"No," he replied while calming his temper, "besides, if you were worried about being attacked then why show your back to me?"

She looked over her shoulder and glared at him as if he had challenged her, "It's complicated."

He wanted to curse her for practically stealing his earlier response but found himself too forgiving this night. A few minutes passed between them in silence and she continued to seemingly ignore his presence behind her. Aggravation started to stir up in the banished prince and he quickly found himself grumpily siting a little ways from her by the riverside. Katara looked over at him and Zuko over at her at the same time. The two quickly looked over at something else.

She couldn't believe how awkward it felt being this close to the Fire Nation prince and even less that she had trusted him once again. At the moment she began to trust him she wanted to curse her trusting nature knowing it had gotten her in trouble once with another boy. Her mind wanted to argue that because she wanted to distrust the same boy he ended up getting hurt while helping her and her friends get their flying friend back. Was she really willing to give this boy, who had already betrayed her once, another chance?

"I guess so," she muttered and received a look from the boy she was siting near.

"What?"

She looked at him and realized she had thought out loud, "Nothing!"

Zuko continued to look at her curiously as she looked back at the flowing river. She wanted to smack him with some water, if only to stop him from looking at her like she was some kind of weirdo. From the corner of her eye she noticed a smirk on his face as he too turned to look at the river. Unknown to her he had noticed she had turned a few shades red after her random outburst and from the look of it, was a lot more uneasy about being close to him than he was about being close to her. That is to say, he was nervous about being friendly with the water tribe girl but her reactions to him strangely gave him a bit more comfort.

"I'm sorry," he said and ignored the look she was giving him, he guessed, for disrupting the silence again.

"Oh, are you? What would you be sorry for," she asked sarcastically and turned away from him.

Her tone moved him into annoyance, "About what happened in Ba Sing Se."

Katara didn't say anything to him, instead she started to play with the water that she had scooped up from the river. Zuko glared at her for not saying anything and ignoring what he had gotten the courage to say to her on the spot.

"Did you hear me, peasant," he yelled at her and instantly got a face full of water. Quickly getting to his feet before she could start another attack he wiped the water off his face and got into a fighting stance. Katara took him by surprise, she was still seated on the ground.

"I thought you didn't want to fight me," she didn't look at him and continued to move the remaining water around in the air.

"Why did you do that," it was more of a demand than a question from the flustered prince.

"You called me a peasant," she looked at him in an agitated way, "That's really a good way to keep someone on your side."

Her sarcasm was getting to him easily and without thinking he shot back a reply to her, "And throwing water at someone is an even better way, especially when its just you."

"I'm not alone, if that's what you think," her concentration on the airborne fluid broke causing it to fall back into the river.

"Hmph, I see no one else with you," he pointed out the somewhat obvious to her.

"For your information I just came here to take a break from the rest of the group. They aren't that far away so if you try something I promise they'll be here faster than you think," she seemed please with her threat to him and saw him glare at her harder.

"I should have known talking to you would be trouble, it was last time," he kept his eyes on her as he started to back away from her. From the look on her face he knew he had hit a nerve, it was only a matter of time before she was throwing water at him again. The only thought running through his mind at this point was if he would fight this time or not.

Katara bit her bottom lip and tried to calm down. How in the world was he able to get to her that bad. It just angered her more to know that he was getting to her and probably knew it too. That was something she didn't want him to have the satisfaction in knowing, it would give him an advantage.

"I don't have time for this," the water bending girl stood up and brushed off her clothes.

"What does that mean," he asked in a confused way. Was she going to fight him or not?

"It means I'm going back to my friends," she started to walk off, he grabbed her wrist.

"That's it," he asked, glaring at her. He felt like she had wasted his time completely.

"Yeah," she pulled her wrist out of his grasp, "What, did you expect an invitation or something?"

Zuko found himself about to say something to her and absolutely nothing coming out. How was he suppose to respond to that? If she was like this with him he could only imagine the rest of the Avatar's group once they saw him, with her that is. Then again there was a chance that they had food. He mentally kicked himself. Food? You're thinking about FOOD? Even if they do have food he found himself thinking that he would rather starve than accept any from them.

Katara looked at the scarred fire nation prince as his mouth was practically left open for the nearest bug to simply fly into. His face contorted suddenly and a scowl was left with a pair of gold eyes glaring at her dangerously. She didn't feel threatened at all, the river wasn't far away anyway and if he started fighting she could fight back easily. Without realizing it she matched his glare with one of her own, both waiting for the other to say or do something and act upon it instantly. With little to no warning a strange groaning sound broke the tension. Katara's eye's widened and Zuko grabbed his stomach and turned away instantly embarrassed that something like that had happened. With even less warning the water bender went into a fit of laughter.

"Shut up," Zuko turned around and went back to glaring at her, several shades of red at this point.

Katara covered her mouth and tried to stop, finding it was harder to do than she expected, "I'm, ahhahhaha, sorry!! Really!"

Zuko simply growled and started throwing fire blasts into the water. He did, after all, say he wasn't here to fight her. Her laughing started to die down as well as his temper and the sound of someone from her group brought them both into silence.

"Katara? Is that you? What's so funny," both recognized the young avatar's voice, along with it the sound of dead leaves and twigs crunching on the ground.

Katara looked at Zuko and he at her. A single thought ran through her mind, what would he do if Aang showed up. She recalled instantly what happened in the cave and wasn't sure if the two would be at each other's throat's again. Zuko didn't seem to be making a move to either run for it or go in the direction Aang was in, she could only assumed he was unsure of what to do as much as she was. She quickly decided that she had to do something first before Zuko decided to do something.

"It's nothing Aang! Wait right there! I'm going back to camp anyway," she called out to the Avatar. Footsteps stopped.

"Okay, Katara," Aang called back cheerfully, "Sokka was starting to get worried anyway!"

For once she was thankful her brother didn't show up first. She remembered telling him about Zuko after they left Ba Sing Se and was sure he would be even less willing to give Zuko a second chance than she had been. Then again she was still wary on the idea of giving him another chance but all in all he didn't throw any flames at her. Katara turned to Zuko and motioned for him to stay, she quickly ran off into the depths of the forest towards Aang and the camp.

Zuko frowned. Once again he was alone and his mind was quick to remind him that he hadn't found anything to eat yet. He took off his shirt along with his shoes and rolled up his pants. Glancing over at the trees his eyes fell on a small branch on the ground, he picked it up and took it to the river. The water was cool compared to the warm summer air. Summer, he thought, it had only started a few weeks ago but was barely as warm within the Earth Kingdom territory as he remembered it was in his home nation.

He stared at the moonlit water as it moved past him, completely ignoring the fact that he had placed himself within its current. It was just like that waterbender, he thought. He really didn't count on her returning later or at all for the rest of the night. It would be stupid on his part if he did anyway. He assumed she would probably tell the Avatar and the rest of the group about him and they would probably keep her there anyway, that is...if she intended on coming to see him again.

He stabbed the water, missing a passing by fish completely. How else did he expect them to act towards him. He had done nothing but bad things in their eyes and she probably didn't trust him all too much either.

Again he missed a passing fish and tossed the piece of wood out of his view. The entire idea of catching food was aggravating him along with the thought of the Avatar and his group all comfortable, talking, eating, enjoying each other's company.

His hands fell into the water, slightly tugged by the water's current. He had no one to talk to anymore, hell he'd give anything to hear his uncle spout out nonsense to him right now. Right now the older man was probably in the Fire Nation while he was bent over in a river unsure of his fate.

Zuko closed his eyes and let himself fall deeper into thought. The only thing he was left with was the thoughts of his mother. He was unsure when or why but he felt the urge to find her was important to him, no matter what the search would leave him with. If she was out there it meant he had someone left that cared for him, if she wasn't then he would at least know what really happened to her. The thought of what happened to the water tribe girl's mother made him wish for a better outcome. Who would have thought they would have something in common, then again he never gave her the chance to talk before and when stuck in a cave with no way out it seemed all he could do was let her talk. The moment she told him about her mother he was somewhat relieved that someone could recognize how he felt. Now that he thought back on it he hated himself for betraying the one person he ran into that possibly could understand his feelings.

Something nipped at his finger tips, his eyes opened and looked at the fish floating in between his hands in the water. He wanted more than anything to prove to her that he could change if given the chance but instead he let her go.

Before he could grab the fish out of the water it scurried away, following the current.

Zuko splashed some water on his face and got out of the water. Catching fish was not his thing, he knew that. His only choice at this point was to do as he had before on days like this, sleep with nothing to eat. He laid down and stared up at the stars and the bright moon over head. Tomorrow he would continue on and hopefully not run into the Avatar's group at all, of course that was less likely to happen since all he ever got was bad luck. He closed his eyes and focused simply on getting some rest before another long day started.

Katara had been watching him in the water the entire time and didn't want to interrupt whatever he was doing. At first she was amused with his angry jabs into the water with a stick and then throwing the stick off into the bushes. He stayed in the water for another five minutes and didn't seem to move at all. At first she thought he had fallen asleep and then wondered how in the world he could do that like he was until she heard the water slash around and a fish momentarily pop out of the water and back in before the Fire Nation boy splashed water on his face and seemed to admit defeat to the fish. At this point he was laying down, eyes closed. She wasn't sure how Zuko would react to being bothered while trying to go to sleep and to be honest she really didn't want to find out right now given that she too was tired. She headed back to camp and looked at Sokka and Aang as they played a game with their hands while Toph was laying back and petting Momo.

"Hah! I win again," Sokka proclaimed as he flicked Aang's head. The airbender winced slightly.

"That's three in a row, Twinkle Toes," Toph announced.

Aang rubbed the spot Sokka had continuously been flicking since he first won. He instantly noticed Katara as she came into the camp once again. A smile graced his face instantly and he hopped over to where the girl sat.

"Hey Katara, you want to play against Sokka," he asked in an excited manner while Sokka laughed.

"Please, Katara against me? I'm on a roll tonight! I'm not going to lose to her," Sokka rolled his eyes at the thought.

"I'd hate to throw you off your winning streak," sarcasm was all over Katara's words.

Sokka pouted and decided to poke the fire with a branch, "At least I don't take forever to go to the bathroom."

Katara glared at her brother and went to her sleeping bag, "I do not take forever."

"Nearly ten minutes? Where did you go, to the other side of the forest," he asked, almost not really wanting to know.

She got comfortable on top of her sleeping bag dreading the warm summer night and turned away from the group, "I did not go all the way to the other side of the forest."

"Fine fine! If its a girl thing you don't have to mention it, we all can practically tell," he said in an uninterested way.

Katara instantly shot up and stared at her brother, "It has nothing to do with that! I just was checking up on something, that's all!"

She laid back down and turned away from the group. The rest of the group, though quiet, was curious as to what Katara had been checking up on. Sokka didn't dare say a word knowing his sister would instantly explode on him again. He looked at Aang and motioned for him to say something. The Avatar, though slightly afraid, cleared his throat.

"I think what Sokka meant Katara was that we were worried since you were gone for such a long time. For all we knew you ran into a platypus bear," he paused and saw her turn slightly, "Not that we don't think you can handle something like that!"

"Quit sugar coating it," Toph jumped into the conversation, "It doesn't take that long to do anything and since we've left Ba Sing Se we haven't run into that many problems as of yet. If you went missing then that would mean that the crazy Fire Nation people we've been running from have finally caught up with us and to be realistic, I doubt you could take on all three of those girls plus that Zuko guy."

Katara turned over and sighed. She wasn't sure at first if she should mention it but since everyone seemed to be upset about her seemingly long absence she had to say something. Sitting up, she looked at the group and took a deep breath. This was going to be messy.

"I ran into Zuko," she watched Aang and Sokka jump up to their feet and give her looks of disbelief.

**---------------------------------------------------**

God this was longer than I expected... XD and I was typing this sucker up for like... six hours straight. That's unbelievable for me really. Lol, only do that for stuff I got a lot of creative juices for. yay. Ahh this is turning into one of them lame Zuko joins the group things... I sad face at that a bit... Oh well.


End file.
